Heartfires
by KittyOfDoom
Summary: At the age of three Keladry of Mindelan left to join the famed Shang warriors. Now fourteen years later she decides to come back to Tortall, finding herself in even more danger than she was in before. KJ.


Disclaimer: Most of the characters belong to Tamora Pierce (who else). The only people I own are most of the Shang order and other odd people that might pop up. Enjoy!  
  
Heartfires  
  
A thick coat of gleaming white snow covered the ground, the freezing temperatures setting it in place and making it dangerously sleek. Nobody in their right minds would be out at this ungodly hour, even if they found a way to brave the cold. Yet out in the distance a dozen or so figures could be seen going about the their business as if the frigid climate were nothing to be concerned about.  
  
~*~  
  
"All right people, Pick up the pace! I'm not paying you to stand around gawking al day!" The Shang Leopard bellowed, glaring at his charges with impatient but amused green eyes. Out of the handful of trainees deemed good enough to attend his classes only two seemed to be fully awake. This was not surprising, seeing how it was two and a half hours before even the great sun decided to awaken, but the leopard didn't care. Mornings were his best time of the day!  
"But Master, you're not paying us! In fact trainees are not allowed such possessions as money until they become great men and women suck as yourself, sir!"  
"Don't get smart with me boy, or I'll show you what great men like myself are capable of doing to unruly boys like you!"  
The boy widened his eyes in mock horror and resumed his stretching exercises. As he looked to his right he saw a hazel-eyed girl smiling at him knowingly, a golden streak of hair escaping her waist-long braid as she shook her head. Many years of working out in the constant sun had changed her once light-brown hair into a mass of colors that seemed to become her.  
"What?" He asked innocently, dark eyes bright with amusement.  
"When will you learn that backtalk is more likely to get you bruised than rich? Seriously Yani, you still act like the child you were when I first met you fourteen years ago."  
"I do not!" Yani replied in mock outrage. "Besides, you were three and I was seven; therefore being more mature than you, just as I am to this day! How good a judge of character could you have been at that age?"  
"Not good enough seeing as how I ended up with you as my best friend!"  
Quickly dodging the punch that Yani sent her way, Keladry of Mindelan got up to start her combat training under the scrupulous tutelage of the famed Shang Leopard.  
  
~*~  
  
A full two hours later, the trainees were wide-awake. Bruised, but definitely awake.  
"Even after eighteen years of combat training you still manage to beat me every time we fight."  
With a sympathetic smile Kel looked at her friend extending a tanned hand to pat his back.  
"Ow! Don't do that! I definitely sprained something. Why does the Leopard insist on such early classes?"  
"It's to accommodate us to fighting in any kind of conditions, especially weather."  
Looking down at his trainee uniform, which consisted of black trousers and a black shirt Yani snorted. "I don't think he has to worry about the last part. We've lived at the roof of the world wearing only this for over a decade. Nobody bears the cold better than a Shang."  
Nodding her head, Kel looked at the distant buildings. Seeing the sun finally make its way into the sky the female trainee gasped. "Oh no! I have to meet the Griffin at dawn! I'm going to be late!"  
With that final statement Kel broke into a run, speeding past her exhausted comrades. Nobody kept the Griffin waiting, especially if he was your Shang Master.  
  
Feeling slightly winded Kel knocked on the door before her, trying to breathe normally again. 'I wonder what he wants to tell me. I've been his squire for seven years and he's never asked for a formal audience before.' Carefully opening the door to the Shang Griffin's personal rooms Keladry peered in.  
  
Inside, sitting at a table, were to men and a woman. The first man, The Griffin himself, and Kel's Shang Master, was comfortably reclining in an arm chair, his red hair and light green eyes making him stand out, even more than his strong build and amazing height.  
  
The second man was thinner. With sandy blond hair and warm brown eyes he looked almost normal. The only thing marking him apart from any other man was a scar on his face going from his left eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. Another of Kel's occasional teachers, he taught her the art of the dagger. 'What would the Shang Spidren be doing here? I thought he was in Tusaine.'  
  
The person that surprised her most however, was the frail looking brunette sitting by the Spidren on the couch. With big blue eyes and full red lips the Shang Dragon could be mistaken for a fragile court beauty. Anybody who was fool enough to try to lift a finger against her would get beaten to a pulp in less than fiven minutes.  
  
All three of these Shang Masters had at one point been her teacher, just as all three had sat on the Shang council since they had passed their ordeal and gotten their animal. The council was compromised of five Shangs with an immortal name and five with a normal animal. They ruled the Shang Order as a democracy instead of a monarchy. The positions always went to the same ten people upon their acceptance into Shang: The Dragon, Phoenix, Griffin, Spidren, Centaur, Lion, Wildcat, Horse, Eagle, and the Mouse. Only two members were now missing, the Phoenix and the Lion, who had died five years before.  
  
Cautiously, Kel entered closing the door behind her. With a deep bow she stood at attention before her teachers. "You said you wanted to see me, sir."  
  
"Ah, yes. Keladry, I have talked it over with the rest of the Council and have decided that you are ready for the ordeal."  
  
"But, sir, I'm only seventeen. Nobody's taken their ordeal before turning twenty, at least!"  
  
"Be that as it my be, you have excelled in all your studies far faster than anybody here. We have nothing left to teach you that you don't already know. Waiting will not make a difference on the outcome of the ordeal."  
  
Seeing as how Kel still looked slightly skeptical the Dragon spoke up. "You will go into the Fire of the Ordeal one week from today. If you fail you will die a painless death. If you succeed the animal who's name you shall bear will be imprinted somewhere on your body. The Council's decision is final. Trainee Yani will go into the fire one day after you No one else will take the ordeal this season."  
  
"You won't fail, Keladry. If your heart is pure and your intentions good, there's nothing to worry about. We've trained you to be the best. You'll be excused from lessons from now until your vigil is to take place. I suggest you spend some of this time with your friends. They'll be quick to reassure you." The Spidren stated with a tone of finality his eyes locked with Kel's.  
  
The bemused girl bowed once again and walked out, two emotions battling in her heart. Happiness and fear. She was finally going to become a full Shang! 'But what if I don't make it?'  
  
'What happens will happen. It's too late to back out now.'  
  
~*~  
  
The following week went by fast as she spent much of her time with her supporting friends. Yani was as happy as she when he heard the news, but more optimistic than she'd ever seen hi before.  
  
Now as the night of her vigil finally arrived Kel's thoughts turned depressed again.  
  
Sitting outside in the snow, dressed in a simple black shirt and pants, Keladry watched the flames of the Fire of the Ordeal tower above her. Strangely it did not give off any heat, only a cool lingering breeze.  
  
Decidedly turning her thoughts away from death Keladry stayed awake during the whole night contemplating the Shang code and her life.  
  
Keladry of Mindelan was the youngest child of six. Her three brothers, Anders, Inness, and Conal, were knights in the realm of Tortall and her two older sisters were accomplished ladies at court. When she had been three years old and living with her parents in the Yamani Islands a Shang Master visited the Yamani court. Seeing as she had potential the Shang Spidren went against Shang custom and brought her to the training yards at the Roof of the World. For fourteen hard years she had been trained in armed combat as well as unarmed techniques gaining speed and flexibility until splits and back flips were as easy as breathing to her.  
  
Arms combat was more exhausting seeing how Shang had to master most weapons before being considered for Mastery. Many children did not make it past the first years, not to mention the Ordeal.  
  
But Keladry had made it this far and if she passed the final test she would go out in the world and visit her family at court. She had only seen them once before when she was ten. The Griffin had taken her out in the world for five whole years. She had spent time in Tortall, Scanra, Tusaine, Tyra, Maren, Galla, the Yamani Islands, and the Copper Isles, but had only seen her family once.  
  
She was about due for a visit. Thinking about her family made her think of where their loyalties lay, with the king of Tortall. As a Shang, Kel was not obliged to be loyal to any one king or country, but she wanted to know who her family was supporting.  
  
'Only good has come out of Tortall, but I'm still not sure. It will be a good place to spend my first year out. I hear the Shang Horse and Wildcat teach there.' She smiled to herself thinking that t would be good to see her old friends again.  
  
With a Start kel realized that the night had passed and the sun was coming up. Standing up slowly the girl trainee tried to regain feeling in her limbs before stepping into the towering flames.  
  
All of a sudden a burning pain engulfed her, something the likes of which she had never felt before. Every inch of her was screaming in agony when, suddenly,it stopped. The pain was gone and she was numb again. In a deep ringing voice the fire spoke to her before casting her out of its flames.  
  
'You've done well Shang Phoenix. You have become second only to the Dragon. I congratulate you , but heed my warning. Some people are not what they seem while others show their true colors from the start. And while some may not like change none are immune to it. Choose your allies well.'  
  
With that the voice was gone and Kel immerged from the flames into the arms of the Shang Griffin.  
  
"Welcome back Keladry. What shall we call you now?"  
  
In a breathless voice Kel replied while toughing a spot between her shoulder blades where a picture of a red bird in flight resided. "Phoenix. The Shang Phoenix." With that the new Master collapsed into the hands of her old teacher, exhausted from the strenuous ordeal.  
  
Twenty-four hours later Yani stepped into the fire and emerged as the Shang Lion.  
  
A/N: Thanks for reading guys. This is just the prologue. Hopefully the story will develop the way I want it to. In the next chapter Kel will come to Tortall and finally meet her family. By the way, does anybody know if Joren has a gift? 


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